12/3/2004 Steps for DC Analysis of BJT Circuits 1/11

Steps for D.C. Analysis of

BJT Circuits
To analyze BJT circuit with D.C. sources, we must follow these
five steps:

1. ASSUME an operating mode

2. ENFORCE the equality conditions of that mode.

3. ANALYZE the circuit with the enforced conditions.

4. CHECK the inequality conditions of the mode for

consistency with original assumption. If consistent, the
analysis is complete; if inconsistent, go to step 5.

5. MODIFY your original assumption and repeat all steps.

Let’s look at each step in detail.

1. ASSUME

We can ASSUME Active, Saturation, or Cutoff!

Jim Stiles The Univ. of Kansas Dept. of EECS

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2. ENFORCE

Active

For active region, we must ENFORCE two equalities.

a) Since the base-emitter junction is forward biased in

the active region, we ENFORCE these equalities:

VBE = 0.7 V (npn)

VEB = 0.7 V (pnp)

b) We likewise know that in the active region, the base and

collector currents are directly proportional, and thus we
ENFORCE the equality:

iC = β iB

Note we can equivalently ENFORCE this condition with

either of the the equalities:

iC = αiE or iE = (β + 1) iB

Jim Stiles The Univ. of Kansas Dept. of EECS

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Saturation

For saturation region, we must likewise ENFORCE two

equalities.

a) Since the base-emitter junction is forward biased, we

again ENFORCE these equalities:

VBE = 0.7 V (npn)

VEB = 0.7 V (pnp)

b) Likewise, since the collector base junction is reverse

biased, we ENFORCE these equalities:

VCB = −0.5 V (npn)

VBC  −0.5 V (pnp)

Note that from KVL, the above two ENFORCED equalities will
require that these equalities likewise be true:

VCE = 0.2 V (npn)

VEC = 0.2 V (pnp)

Jim Stiles The Univ. of Kansas Dept. of EECS

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Note that for saturation, you need to explicitly ENFORCE any

two of these three equalities—the third will be ENFORCED
automatically (via KVL)!!

To avoid negative signs (e.g., VCB=-0.5), I typically ENFORCE the

first and third equalities (e.g., VBE= 0.7 and VCE=0.2).

Cutoff

For a BJT in cutoff, both pn junctions are reverse biased—no

current flows! Therefore we ENFORCE these equalities:

iB = 0
iC = 0
iE = 0

3. ANALYZE

Active

The task in D.C. analysis of a BJT in active mode is to find one

unknown current and one additional unknown voltage!

a) In addition the relationship iC = β iB , we have a second

useful relationship:
iE = iC + iB

Jim Stiles The Univ. of Kansas Dept. of EECS

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This of course is a consequence of KCL, and is true

regardless of the BJT mode.

But think about what this means! We have two current

equations and three currents (i.e., iE , iC , iB )—we only need
to determine one current and we can then immediately find
the other two!

Q: Which current do we need to find?

A: Doesn’t matter! For a BJT operating in the active

region, if we know one current, we know them all!

b) In addition to VBE = 0. 7 (VEB = 0. 7) , we have a second

useful relationship:

VCE = VCB +VBE (npn)

VEC = VEB +VBC (pnp)

This of course is a consequence of KVL, and is true

regardless of the BJT mode.

Combining these results, we find:

VCE = VCB + 0. 7 (npn)

VEC = 0. 7 +VBC (pnp)

Jim Stiles The Univ. of Kansas Dept. of EECS

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But think about what this means! If we find one unknown

voltage, we can immediately determine the other.

Therefore, a D.C. analysis problem for a BJT operating in the

active region reduces to:

find one of these values

iB , iC , or iE

and find one of these values

VCE or VCB (VEC or VBC )

Saturation

For the saturation mode, we know all the BJT voltages, but
know nothing about BJT currents!

Thus, for an analysis of circuit with a BJT in saturation, we

need to find any two of the three quantities:

iB , iC , iE

We can then use KCL to find the third.

Cutoff

Cutoff is a bit of the opposite of saturation—we know all the

BJT currents (they’re all zero!), but we know nothing about BJT
voltages !

Jim Stiles The Univ. of Kansas Dept. of EECS

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Thus, for an analysis of circuit with a BJT in cutoff, we need to

find any two of the three quantities:

VBE , VCB , VCE (npn )

VEB , VBC , VEC ( pnp )

We can then use KVL to find the third.

4. CHECK

You do not know if your D.C. analysis is correct unless you

CHECK to see if it is consistent with your original assumption!

WARNING!-Failure to CHECK the original assumption will

result in a SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION in credit on exams,
regardless of the accuracy of the analysis !!!

Q: What exactly do we CHECK?

A: We ENFORCED the mode equalities, we CHECK the mode

inequalities.

Active

We must CHECK two separate inequalities after analyzing a

circuit with a BJT that we ASSUMED to be operating in active
mode. One inequality involves BJT voltages, the other BJT
currents.

Jim Stiles The Univ. of Kansas Dept. of EECS

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a) In the active region, the Collector-Base Junction is

“off” (i.e., reverse biased). Therefore, we must CHECK our
analysis results to see if they are consistent with:

VCB > 0 (npn)

VBC > 0 (pnp)

Since VCE = VCB + 0. 7 , we find that an equivalent inequality

is:

VCE > 0. 7 (npn)

VEC > 0. 7 (pnp)

We need to check only one of these two inequalities (not

both!).

b) In the active region, the Base-Emitter Junction is “on”

(i.e., forward biased). Therefore, we must CHECK the
results of our analysis to see if they are consistent with:

iB > 0

Jim Stiles The Univ. of Kansas Dept. of EECS

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Since the active mode constants α and β are always

positive values, equivalent expressions to the one above
are:
iC > 0 and iE > 0

In other words, we need to CHECK and see if any one of

the currents is positive—if one is positive, they are all
positive!

Saturation

Here we must CHECK inequalities involving BJT currents.

a) We know that for saturation mode, the ratio of collector

current to base current will be less than beta! Thus we
CHECK:

iC < β iB

b) We know that both pn junctions are forward biased,

hence we CHECK to see if all the currents are
positive:

iB > 0
iC > 0
iE > 0

Jim Stiles The Univ. of Kansas Dept. of EECS

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Cutoff

For cutoff we must CHECK two BJT voltages.

a) Since the EBJ is reverse biased, we CHECK:

VBE < 0 (npn )

VEB < 0 ( pnp )

b) Likewise, since the CBJ is also reverse biased, we

CHECK:

VCB > 0 (npn )

VBC > 0 ( pnp )

If the results of our analysis are consistent with each of these

inequalities, then we have made the correct assumption! The
numeric results of our analysis are then likewise correct. We
can stop working!

However, if even one of the results of our analysis is

inconsistent with active mode (e.g., currents are negative, or
VCE < 0. 7 ), then we have made the wrong assumption! Time to
move to step 5.

Jim Stiles The Univ. of Kansas Dept. of EECS

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5. MODIFY

If one or more of the BJTs are not in the active mode, then it
must be in either cutoff or saturation. We must change our
assumption and start completely over!

In general, all of the results of our previous analysis are

incorrect, and thus must be completely scraped!

Jim Stiles The Univ. of Kansas Dept. of EECS